New $142,000 dollar program for troubled teens in the Manning

MANNING Valley Neighbourhood Services (MVNS) will partner with the Taree community to develop a program to steer youth away from crime, Police Minister Troy Grant and Member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead announced today.

The NSW Government will provide MVNS with a $142,000 Community Safety Fund grant for a social program to provide young people at-risk with the help they need to stay out of the juvenile justice system.

Mr Grant said the project aims to cut the rate of malicious damage offending among youth by building social cohesion and improving community safety in the Bushland area of Taree.

“A project officer will be appointed to work with the community to design and deliver a range of positive educational programs that engagetroubled teenagers,” Mr Grant said.

“Potential initiatives include school homework support, a school suspension program and community safety workshops involving police, residents and stakeholders within the Bushland community.

“Local people understand the problems facing their communities and these grants empower them to deliver practical grassroots solutions, which helps to build a safer State.”

Mr Bromhead said the NSW Government’s $10 million Community Safety Fund has delivered nearly $5 million to local crime prevention projects and will continue to provide grants over the next two years.

“The Bushland area of Taree is a community that faces many challenges. The majority of residents live in social housing on the edge of Taree. Helping troubled young people will have major benefits for the community if it results in them turning their backs on criminal and anti-social behaviour.

“There is an extremely strong sense of civic duty in our region, and as a Government, we owe it to communities to invest in the programs that will build a safer and more cohesive environment for our youth to grow up in,” Mr Bromhead said.